Goal for K: To remember or mainly exposure?

[Mrs. Hound]

Just wondering if when teaching subjects like Science, Social Studies, etc. should I be spending enough time on subjects so that I feel like shes actually LEARNED all about the topic (enough to remember and recall the info later?)

 

Or should we just cover topics as long as shes interested (even if it means moving quicker) just to expose her to them?

 

I know she won't be "mastering" anything in K, I'm just a slight perfectionist on this and I worry we will do all of this reading and learning.. and then she will forget it all the next week. :lol:

[EKS]

Exposure, but you'd be surprised how much they remember.

 

(Of course, you'll also be frustrated by how much they forget...)

[Tanikit]

Mostly exposure, but I find that coming back to topics or approaching them from a different angle helps mine to remember. So if you covered what plants need to survive and move on to human/animal needs then make sure you teach that in relation to what they have already done. The same with history and all the other content subjects - just keep referring back to what they already supposedly know. They don't forget it in a week, but without regular reminders they will forget a large amount of it (in fact you will forget even more without constant reminders simply because you are older especially if the subject matter is entirely new).

[theYoungerMrsWarde]

For k science we did the Evan-Moore Learning to Be a Scientist book. What was most important for me was not that he remember every science fact we covered (and it covered a range of subjects) but that the main concepts about what scientists do was remembered and he could apply/identity those concepts to science he learned in the following years. (Scientists make observations, scientists make comparisons, etc.)

 

It's a K-1st grade book, and required no reading or writing. The kids had a LOT of fun with it. If you're interested, I blogged about all the lessons. (The search puts the newest posts on top and the oldest on the bottom, so you have to go to "older posts" to see them in chronological order.)

[freesia]

Exposure and fun school/family experiences! You wouldn't believe the fun projects we did when my oldest was in k! He.does.not.remember.anything.about.it. But, that's okay. We did it because it was fun and stimulated interest. So, if you get into a certain topic, go with it and skip something else. It will come around another time. Never, never, let yourself worry about a young child not retaining history or science. Spend that time worrying about literacy and math retention.

 

eta: Maybe it will help if you have a skill target instead of a fact target. For example, you may decide your target for science is increasing powers of observation, or question asking. The facts come along for the ride as you build the tools for future study.

Edited September 18, 2012 by freesia

[PeacefulChaos]

Exposure.

[Farrar]

Exposure, but you'd be surprised how much they remember.

 

(Of course, you'll also be frustrated by how much they forget...)

 

:iagree: Unanimous so far for exposure. I think most of elementary school it's just exposure really.

[freeindeed]

Exposure and creating a love of learning :)

[rachelpants]

This thread has me breathing a sigh of relief :)

[abba12]

I think it's a bit of both. Lets use the example of how plants grow. I would aim to expose the child to the concept of plants needing water, food from the soil, sunlight etc and why these things are important, what roles these play. How do plants draw food from soil, and other age appropriate explanations. The fact different plants need different things, a very simplified explanation of photosynthesis. A look at the different parts of a plant and what their purposes are (flower, fruit, leaf, roots, etc) and a few other basic facts about how plants work like how a seed is activated and grows once in the ground.

 

But at the end of that unit, maybe a month later, I will be happy if she can tell me what plants need (not necessarily why, just water, soil and sun) and what the different plant parts are called (roots, leaves, etc). I'd also like it if she could tell me that plants grow from seeds. If she can give me any of the 'why' behind plant life that's a bonus.

 

So I have two goals I guess, an exposure goal and a retaining goal.

[BugsMama]

My biggest goal for 4-6 years old is to really light a fire in my kids. I want them to LOVE learning. I want them to see that the curiosity they have is a good thing, and that the world is an amazing place, full of things to see and do and learn. I want to build confidence in them, that they are smart little people, with all the skills they need to learn and grow and do well. It's all about lighting the fire.

 

Everything else is secondary to that goal.

[Kathryn]

Exposure and creating a love of learning :)

 

:iagree:

[JenniferLynn]

Mostly exposure. For history, we did work towards and arrived at a strong sense of basic chronology which has been helpful now for 1st grade. We can plug in what she learns in science or history into the major time periods.

[Mrs. Hound]

Thanks for all of your replies! Im not half as worried as I was previously.. I posted a thread last night bragging just a tad;) We started K when dd was 4 but only made it through about 2 months before life got seriously crazy.. so we decided to start again at 5.

 

Yesterday was our second day of school and we quickly found out... SHE REMEMBERED EVERYTHING. We were able to skip right to the reading section of OPGTR, we skipped a ton of math lessons.. and all of our problem areas from last year were done perfectly. Her handwriting blew me away.

 

So I totally understand PPs comment about being surprised how much they remember ;) LOVE IT!

 

Thanks again everyone!